1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an abnormal condition detecting system, and particularly, to an abnormal condition detecting system detecting an abnormal condition of a user at his/her residence by monitoring the frequency of use of a home infrastructure (basic life equipment) in the residence.
2. Description of the Background Art
The simplest way of monitoring the use frequency of a home infrastructure (basic life equipment) installed in a residence, such as a bathroom or a refrigerator, is to detect opening and dosing of a door (the door of a bathroom, the door of a refrigerator or the like).
Technologies for detecting or monitoring opening and closing of a door are disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 59-220893, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 7-293072, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 7-180447 and so forth. Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 59-220893 describes an apparatus for surely monitoring a doorway to an important area by detecting and monitoring opening/dosing of a door and the check-out period of a key. Moreover, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 7-293072 describes a technology related to a controlled access system that monitors entrance and exit of a person from/to each room in a building by detecting opening/closing of a door. Furthermore, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 7-180447 describes a technology related to an apparatus for opening/closing a garage door using a remote control, which is directed to safe guiding of a car into the garage at the time of parking.
In addition, an example of a technology for monitoring abnormality of various home infrastructures such as gas, water and electricity, irrespective of opening/dosing of a door, is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 6-317368. In the disclosure, a technology related to a simple remote monitoring system of an air conditioner utilizing a communication device for a micon gas meter or the like is described.
In recent years, the number of senior citizens who live alone without any relatives or acquaintances in the neighborhood has increased with declining birthrate, trend toward the nuclear family, improved life expectancy and so forth, raising social problems. There are some cases such that an aged person who lives alone falls down at home without nobody noticing for a long period of several days to several months, or that a neighbor who became suspicious visits such an aged person only to find him/her already passed away.
In order to solve such problems, the national and local governments have been trying to reinforce social welfare systems. Moreover, many private enterprises have been participating in social works such as a helper-leasing business.
However, such social welfare systems and services have not been satisfactory for solving the problems described above. This is because the national and local governments run such social services mainly for physically-handicapped and seriously-ill people in view of welfare budget. Therefore, senior citizens who merely live alone without any relatives have necessarily been given lower priorities and thus have not been able to receive appropriate services.
On the other hand, the fee for helpers provided by private enterprises are expensive. In addition, people who live alone generally tend to refuse strangers entering their home. Therefore, such social services provided by private enterprises have been utilized only in special cases where a person has difficulty in spending daily life or where a person lives with somebody and hence has no anxiety for a stranger coming into his/her home.
Thus, there has been a need for development of a technology for supporting the lives of senior citizens living alone and reassuring them in some way, not depending on the government welfare systems or the private social services.
However, the conventional technologies described earlier were developed mainly for the purpose of assuring security rather than for supporting people living alone in case of emergency. Thus, the conventional technologies could not deal with abnormal circumstances of people living alone and thus were no solutions to the problems described above.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an abnormal condition detecting system that can appropriately detect an abnormal condition of an inhabitant and that can take prompt action thereon.
The object of the present invention described above can be achieved by an abnormal condition detecting system having features described below. According to an aspect of the present invention, an abnormal condition detecting system includes an acquisition unit acquiring information related to use of a home infrastructure in a residence; a count unit counting the number of uses of the home infrastructure during a certain time period starting at every predetermined interval, based on the acquired information related to use; a determination unit determining whether or not the counted number of uses is at most a predetermined value; and a recognition unit recognizing an abnormal condition of a user using the home infrastructure when the determination unit determines that the counted number of uses is at most a predetermined value.
According to the present invention, the number of uses of the infrastructure within a certain period beginning at every predetermined interval is counted, for example, on a daily or weekly basis. Then, if the counted number of uses is no higher than a predetermined value, it is recognized that the user (inhabitant at the residence) using the infrastructure is in an abnormal condition. The number of uses is counted at predetermined intervals in view of the life cycle of the user, so that such an abnormal condition can be more appropriately determined based on the counted number.
Therefore, an abnormal condition detecting system that can appropriately detect an abnormal condition of an inhabitant and that can take prompt action thereon may be provided.
Preferably, the certain period is shorter than the predetermined interval.
Accordingly, the time period for which the number of uses of the infrastructure is counted (a certain period) is made shorter, and hence there is a time period for which no counting is performed. Thus, certain time with lower possibilities of counting may be excluded from the counting period (a certain period), for example, by leaving the time at which the inhabitant is often out not counted. This can eliminate disparity in the number of uses of the infrastructure that could be generated by special circumstances, facilitating detection of the difference between normal and abnormal conditions.
Therefore, the number of uses of a home infrastructure can be balanced, allowing more appropriate detection of an abnormal condition.
Preferably, the abnormal condition detecting system further includes a detection unit detecting use of the home infrastructure; and a first communication unit transmitting information related to the detected use of the home infrastructure to the acquisition unit.
According to the present invention, the result detected by the detection unit is transmitted to the acquisition unit by the first communication unit. This allows the detection unit (and the first communication unit) to be provided in a manner physically separated from the device (a main device; hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cparent device 1xe2x80x9d) configured by the acquisition unit, the count unit, the determination unit and the recognition unit.
Therefore, the degree of freedom relative to the use of the entire system may be extended such that the detection unit (and the first communication unit) may be installed directly onto a home infrastructure such as a bathroom door and that parent device 1 is installed near an AC power-supply. Furthermore, extensibility of the system can also be increased, such that the detection unit (and the first communication unit) may be installed later.
Preferably, when there are a plurality of detection units in the abnormal condition detecting system, the first communication unit further transmits identification information for identifying each detection unit, and the recognition unit recognizes an abnormal condition of a user by further considering the transmitted identification information.
According to the present invention, when there are a plurality of detection units, each detection unit also transmits its own identification information together with the detected result. The recognition unit received the information may identify which home infrastructure the detected result belongs to. Therefore, the type or the like of each home infrastructure may be considered for mutual relations between infrastructures, enabling appropriate recognition of an abnormal condition of the user.
Preferably, the abnormal condition detecting system further includes a first power-supply unit supplying power to the first communication unit. The first power-supply unit supplies power when the first communication unit performs transmission.
According to the present invention, the first communication unit is supplied with power when it transmits the information related to the use of a home infrastructure detected by the detection unit. The power is supplied only as required, so that needless power consumption can be reduced.
Preferably, the abnormal condition detecting system further includes a first power-supply unit supplying power to the first communication unit. The first power-supply unit provides a power-supply different from the power-supply provided for the detection unit.
According to the present invention, the first communication unit is provided with a separate power-supply unit different from that of parent device 1. This eliminates the need for providing a line between parent device 1 and the detection unit for supplying power. Moreover, the separate power-supply facilitates the control for power consumption.
Preferably, the abnormal condition detecting system further includes a first capacity determination unit determining whether or not there is a shortage of capacity in the first power-supply unit; and a first sound alarming unit alarming that there is the shortage of capacity when the first capacity determination unit determines that there is the shortage of capacity. The first sound alarming unit is activated when the detection unit detects the use of the home infrastructure.
According to the present invention, when there is a shortage of capacity in the first power-supply, an alarming sound is emitted upon detection of the use of the home infrastructure to notify the user of the shortage of capacity. This allows the user to surely be informed of the shortage of capacity.
Preferably, the abnormal condition detecting system further includes a second communication unit transmitting information to the outside of a residence. The second communication unit transmits to a predetermined destination that a user is in an abnormal condition, when the recognition unit recognizes an abnormal condition of a user.
According to the present invention, when the abnormal condition of the user is recognized, the predetermined destination is notified thereof. Thus, even when the user cannot communicate to the outside, the system automatically notifies someone outside about the abnormal condition at an early stage.
Preferably, the abnormal condition detecting system further includes a third communication unit transmitting the abnormal condition of the user recognized by the recognition unit to the second communication unit. The second communication unit receives a transmitted result from the third communication unit and transmits to a predetermined destination that the user is in the abnormal condition.
According to the present invention, the result recognized by the recognition unit is transmitted to the second communication unit by the third communication unit. This allows only the second communication unit to be provided in a physically-separated manner. Therefore, the degree of freedom relative to the use of the entire system can be extended, such that the detection unit or the like may be installed directly to a home infrastructure and only the second communication unit is installed at a location connectable to a telephone line. This further facilitates later provision of units other than the second communication unit in order to detect the use of a plurality of home infrastructures and hence enables enhancement of the system extensibility.
Preferably, the abnormal condition detecting system further includes a second power-supply unit supplying power to the second communication unit. The second power-supply unit supplies power when the communication unit performs transmission.
According to the present invention, the second communication unit is supplied with power when it transmits to the outside the abnormal condition of the user recognized by the recognition unit. The power is supplied only as required, so that needless power consumption can be reduced.
Preferably, the abnormal condition detecting system further includes a second power-supply unit supplying power to the second communication unit. The second power-supply unit provides a power-supply different from the power-supply provided for the recognition unit.
According to the present invention, the second communication unit is provided with a separate power-supply unit. The separate power-supply unit facilitates the control for power consumption.
Preferably, the abnormal condition detecting system further includes a second capacity determination unit determining whether or not there is a shortage of capacity in the second power-supply unit; and a second sound alarming unit alarming that there is the shortage of capacity when the second capacity determination unit determines that there is a shortage of capacity. The second sound alarming unit is activated when the detection unit detects the use of the home infrastructure.
According to the present invention, when there is a shortage of capacity in the second power-supply unit, the alarming sound is emitted to notify the user of the shortage of capacity upon detection of the use of a home infrastructure. This allows the user to surely be informed of the shortage of capacity.
Preferably, the abnormal condition detecting system further includes a third power-supply unit supplying power to the third communication unit. The third power-supply unit supplies power when the third communication unit performs transmission.
According to the present invention, the third communication unit is supplied with power when it transmits the abnormal condition of the user recognized by the recognition unit to the second communication unit. The power is supplied only as required, so that needless power consumption can be reduced.
Preferably, the abnormal condition detecting system further includes a third power-supply unit supplying power to the third communication unit. The third power-supply unit providing a power-supply different from the power-supply provided for the recognition unit.
According to the present invention, the third communication unit is provided with a separate power-supply unit. This eliminates the need for providing a line for power-supply between the third communication unit and another unit such as the detection unit. Moreover, the separate power-supply facilitates the control for power consumption.
Preferably, the abnormal condition detecting system further includes a third capacity determination unit determining whether or not there is a shortage of capacity in the third power-supply unit; and a third sound alarming unit alarming that there is the shortage of capacity when the third capacity determination unit determines that there is a shortage of capacity. The third sound alarming unit is activated when the detection unit detects the use of the home infrastructure.
According to the present invention, when there is a shortage of capacity in the third power-supply unit, the alarming sound is emitted to warn the shortage of capacity upon detection of the use of the home infrastructure. This allows the user to surely be notified of the shortage of capacity.
The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.